Barclays Center Builder Beefs Up Data Analytics

Forest City Enterprises Inc., the parent company of the developer that built the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, is ramping up its business analytics capability as public investors push the company beyond family control.

Over the last two years Forest City has shifted to more data-driven analysis and less gut-driven decisions. The move came as pressure from shareholders has tamped down control by the Ratner family and forced it to change focus from big controversial development projects such as the Barclays Center—the new home of the Nets basketball franchise–to the more mundane work of collecting rent on properties, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Paul Adornato. Bruce Ratner is planning to step down as chief executive of Forest City’s New York-based development company, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. And for the first time, over the last two months, the board has come under the control of non-family members.

In an October 2011 filing, investment firm Third Avenue Management LLC said it had pushed Forest City on “modernizing its governing structure” and “enhancing financial reporting.”

Jeff Linton, a Forest City spokesman, said the changes reflected a desire within the company for more data-driven methodology, and were not the result of shareholder pressure. “None of the changes were knee jerk reactions to what shareholders were asking for.”

As part of the change, the company’s chief technology officer, Charles Rau, has shifted his IT team from “commodity back office work” to developing analytic tools for business executives. Mr. Rau is providing executives with SAP AG business intelligence tools, embedded inside iPads, that allow them to analyze and compare vacancy levels, cash flow and return on investment of any of the company’s properties. “You can look at the business holistically…It allows them to compare properties under the same light,” said Mr. Rau, who plans to deploy the tools to a couple hundred executives over the next few months. “You can see which malls are doing well and which are struggling.”

To help develop the platform, he has moved several employees from help desk work to implementing the business intelligence tools, replacing the support positions with outsourced workers from the technology firm Genesis10. “We wanted them to be doing high competency stuff,” Mr. Rau said.

Forest City’s shift to a more data-driven approach fits with the company’s move toward providing shareholders with more information, said Mr. Adornato. “They are re-examining all aspects of their business and trying to rationalize expense structure.”

Comments (1 of 1)

Really? We have this option as Execs @ Forest City? We’ve been ask for some sort of portal where we can see this information for years now. Wish there was some communication from Mr. Rau on this breakthrough in technology.

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